Explain how the sale of HeLa evolved into a business. Describe the extent to which the profits from that business are likely a direct result of the sale of HeLa cells. In what other ways do scientists, corporations, and individuals profit as a result of HeLa?
Companies like Invitrogen and BioWhittaker had started selling Hela cells; Invitrogen sold Hela products from $100-$10,000 a vial. The selling of Hela cells have grown so much that there are more than 17,000 patents for Hela cells and they are all called products (Skloot 569-570). Hela was named as one of the most popular cell lines at that time, so it's reasonable that most of the profit from businesses are from Hela cells ( Skloot 571). Other than the profit of money, scientists have had bred HeLa cells with plant cells, namely tobacco cells. Some scientists were using Hela cells to study viruses like AIDS while a psychic healer was seeing how spirtual healing could cure cancer. The corporation of the Black panthers had been setting up free clinics ,for blacks, to protest the "racist health care systems". Then, society got a punch when the true story of Henrietta Lacks came out; the fact that the cells coming from a black woman, who was a slave, and whose cells were being used ,unaccredited, by whites was shocking. (Skloot 576-577). People like Victor McKusick and Susan Hsu used, without permission, the 43 different genetic markers in DNA from Day and two of the Lacks children to create a map so that scientist could identify Hela cells (Skloot 578-579).
ReplyDeleteThe sale of HeLa cells grew into a huge business, so unlike what Helen said, big companies such as Invitrogen and BioWhittaker didn't start selling HeLa cells. The business really started with George Gey, the researcher accredited and responsible for the initial culturing of HeLa cells. He started by giving away vials of HeLa cells he developed himself to other researchers in the nation who were interested in it. Eventually, HeLa’s popularity grew and more researchers demanded more HeLa cells because conducting researches on HeLa because “they would be cheaper than using monkeys” (Skloot, 70). So Gey decided to find a way to culture massive amounts of HeLa cells, which was easy because “Henrietta’s cells grew unlike any human cells he’d seen” (Skloot, 71). As a result of these discoveries, William Scherer developed the HeLa Distribution Center, the first mass-producing cell culture factory.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Skloot, R. (2010). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown.